Does anyone have any personal knowledge of, or recommendations regarding the best school for a shy 11 year old girl in or close to Nong Khai?

Thanks

st.pauls school is as good as you can get in N/K

Dee, may I ask upon what you base your comment/conclusion? I have heard very mixed reviews about St Paul's and know of parents who have taken their children away from that school. Agreed there is little choice in NK at the "upper" "Hi-So" end of the market.

From what I believe, St. Pauls is probably the most well know of the schools around here, but whether it is the best leaves a little to the imagination.

My children all still go to Prathumthep, where the English program appears to be excellent (some of their M6 students have fantastic English skills) and it is usually over-subscribed.

There are others in the area, all with mixed reviews.

I have heard some good reviews about Prathumthep recently but like you mention, I have heard it is pretty difficult to get into.

My 3 children all stay in Tha Bo and go to the Hassadee school on the main road into Sri Chang Mai, it is a pretty good option imho, fairly low price along with air con class rooms and more importantly, the teaching program there seems to be pretty stable along with a variety of topics being taught.
They also have a real British teacher there.

When i came to NK,almost 6 years ago,I asked around for the best school in NK.Everyone,3-4 people responding,said St.Paul!

So I enrolled her there!Being a relatively darker skinned girl than her classmates was a traumatic and lonely experience for her and having a ''falang'' father was also added fodder for ugly comments!

She attended there for 3 years,I became very frustrated about her treatment,the teaching curriculum and the shoddy practices regarding teaching,expectations of expensive costs involving ''dog & Pony shows for local Puyais benefit etc etc.

I found the school to not be a good school,but the most expensive around and a ''Hi-So school'',all show ,no go!What I saw of the early grade teachers and program was heartening though,but it didn't apply to us and I only saw the surface!

St.Paul did not have a High school program ,although they started one 2 years ago and wanted my daughter to stay,we tested and transferred to Pratumthep!

She is much more happier there,with accumulation of buddies and ''friends''!She is on a good study regimen at home and is doing much better,but as far as the school be a ''good school'' is concerned,it is really debatable!

Examples:My daughter ,who speaks and understands English better than any student at the school(very poor grammer though),tested and passed easily the testing for the ''English program''!She didn't get in that program as my wife was told it was full(come to find out,10K was a payment everyone supposedly knew was supposed to be paid UTT,but we were ignorant of this) and she was put into a mixed class of a few interested students and a majority of disinterested students,not really in the 2 main categories of Science and Math program or the English Program(these are the 2 categories that the testing for admission is based on)!
After a year of her struggling between forming new friendships and focusing on studies,reports about most of her teachers not teaching,just handing out ''homework sheets''and telling the students to do them in class,teachers not even coming to the classroom,all her ''friends'',her group,copying her homework at our house or in the classroom right in front of teachers that were unconcerned,I went and talked to the main falang English teacher at the school (taught their for several years,stating that,although not a very good English program,it was the only one he would consider teaching at as the other schools are impossible to work for and accomplish anything),he clued me in to the ''donation''expected and what was happening there,regarding my daughter!

He said that the ''English program'' was BS and a waste of time,although his English classes,within the program, had some interested students that did fairly well,but none as good as our daughter for understanding what is being said.He could compare as he had her for one class last year!

In the meantime,since she is not in either main program,this year she has 4 English classes,all taught by an old Thai lady(I met),that NEVER teaches,only hands out paper assignments and assigns reading and exercises in the books,then doesn't collect or grade any of the work,doesn't speak a word of English in the classroom to the students either(Igave her a ride home one day,per her request of my daughter,and she spoke a few words of English to me in the car,but mostly spoke Thai to my daughter to translate for me and her our conversation!!!!!

My daughter has ,4 Chinese classes(option),1 math class and 1 science class,neither one assigns homework,everything else is Thai related,language,history,social studies,Buddhism and myths with a class on ''health and several ''sports''and art classes,no computer or falang teacher this year as the main falang teacher,after 9 years,gave notice last year and moived to Ecuador,told me that he had finally figured out that ''everything'' here was BS and he was finally packing it in He spoke fluent Thai and had become a monk a couple of years ago!

The truth is,we have experienced many private schools in Bangkok and St.Pauls here and 2 gov't schools in bangkok and PTT here,and IMO,they were all BS!

Don't know anything abour Hassadee school,but if you are monitoring it and are satisfied,I would not move your children to PTT.My daughter has just developed a friendship with the 2 top students in her class,different group than her previous ''buddies'',her favorite is from Tha Bo and is the ''leader'' of the new group of ''more interested in learning ''students!

As I have suggested before to others,if you are sincerely concerned about your children getting a good education,instead of relying on the school system,I think private tutoring in a home study program is the way to go!

Thanks for the informed response Stan, another reason for my children to remain at Hassadee would be their current location, as they are staying with relatives in Tha Bo it certainly makes good sense for now.

It certainly sounds like Prathumthep is one of the better options in central Nong Khai though.